Brayton Power Point Set to Close

Environmentalists are hailing a decision to shut down the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Massachusetts. Owners of the coal-fired plant filed papers Monday indicating the plant will no longer provide power to the grid by 2017.

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Brayton Power Plant currently operates in Somerset Mass, but is set to close in 2017

Federal regulators have called it the heaviest polluter in Massachusetts. Environmentalists have decried the carcinogens that pour from its smokestacks. Now, the Brayton Point Power Station on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border is closing, according to papers filed by its owner, Energy Capital Partners.

The Conservation Law Foundation has been working years to shut it down. But the Foundation’s Jonathan Peress said its imminent closure is no cause for celebration.

"I don’t know that I’m happy about it. There are consequences to any closure of this nature with respect to employees, the affected community and otherwise," said Peress. "I do feel on behalf of CLF somewhat vindicated by it but not happy about it."

Dunkin Donuts is replacing its Styrofoam cups in some New England communities with paper cups. But don’t expect those paper cups in the Ocean State any time soon.

Get a drink at Dunkin Donuts, hot or cold, and there’s a chance that a Styrofoam cup is involved. For the uninitiated, a cold drink served in a plastic cup is often placed inside a Styrofoam cup to prevent sweating. So what’s a ubiquitous chain like Dunkin going to do if a community bans Styrofoam?

A biology professor at the University of Rhode Island is conducting an inventory of the types of seaweeds that grow in Rhode Island ocean waters.

Seaweed may be an annoyance, but it offers vital clues into the health of an ocean. That’s why University of Rhode Island biology professor Christopher Lane has embarked on a study of the slimy stuff with an eye towards learning how many species of seaweed exist in Rhode Island, and which are the most invasive.

A fundraiser swim across Narragansett Bay is in jeopardy because of federal sequestration. The environmental group Save the Bay says the Navy can no longer help host the summer event that’s been going on for more than 30 years in Newport.

The group still plans to hold the swim but says it’s facing financial challenges. Save the Bay says they’ve lost at least million dollars in annual federal funding over the past few years. Their Newport aquarium was also destroyed in Superstorm Sandy.